Australia

Naracoorte Caves
National Park
 A national park near Naracoorte in the Limestone Coast tourism region in the
south-east of South Australia (Australia)
 Established in 1994 when it was inscribed on the World Heritage Site list along
with Riversleigh.
 Preserves 6 km² of remnant vegetation, with 26 caves contained within the 3.05
km² World Heritage Area.

Skeleton of a Marsupial Lion (Thylacoleo

carnifex) in the Victoria Fossil Cave,
Naracoorte Caves National Park
Naracoorte Caves
 Australian Fossil Mammal Site
- Naracoorte
Location
Over 2000 kilometres separate the Naracoorte
(South Australia) and Riversleigh (Queensland) sites,
which form the World Heritage Australian Fossil
Mammal Site.

The site at Naracoorte, South Australia, covers

300 hectares and is located in flat country,
punctuated by a series of stranded coastal Dune
ridges that run parallel to the present coastline.
 Description of place

The cool caves at Naracoorte

are in stark contrast to the
semi-arid conditions at
Riversleigh. The Naracoorte
fossils document a distinctive
fauna, and illustrate faunal
change spanning several ice
ages, highlighting the impacts
of both climatic change and
humankind on Australia's
mammals from at least
350,000 years before the present.
 Snapshots of Pleistocene life

Ongoing research at the

Naracoorte Caves sites is
expected to document
a series of snapshots of
Pleistocene life in south-east
Australia, including details of
climate and vegetation
associated with the fauna.
Recent geological research
suggests that deposits of
Pliocene and even Miocene
age could be found at the site, thus providing closer links with the site at Riversleigh.
Specimens representing 99 vertebrate species have been discovered, ranging in size from
very small frogs to buffalo-sized marsupials. These include exceptionally preserved examples
of the Australian Ice Age megafauna, as well as a host of modern species such as the
Tasmanian devil, thylacine and others. The Naracoorte fossils span the probable time of the
arrival of humans in Australia, and this is valuable in analysing the complex relationships
between humans and their environment.
The sites, each highly significant in its own right, are presented as a serial
World Heritage nomination. Together they represent the key stages in the
development of Australia's mammal fauna. While there are other
important Australian fossil mammal sites, Riversleigh and Naracoorte are
outstanding for the extreme diversity and the quality of preservation of
their fossils. They also provide links through time that unify the biotas of
the past with those of today in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, the
Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, and Kakadu National Park World
Heritage properties.
South Australia Map
 Outstanding examples representing major stages of the
earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going
geological processes in the development of landforms, or
significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
The Australian Fossil Mammal
Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)
was inscribed on the World
Heritage List in 1994.
Riversleigh and Naracoorte are
outstanding examples
representing major stages of
earth's history, including the
record of life, particularly the
middle to late Tertiary evolution
of the mammals in Australia
(Riversleigh), and an outstanding
record of terrestrial vertebrate
life spanning the last 170,000
years (Naracoorte), and Naracoorte Cave National Park Information Centre
significant on-going geological
processes.
The World Heritage values of Riversleigh include:
Fossil deposits which:
 include abundant and diverse fossils, including complete crania and disarticulated
skeletons representing most age classes of the known extinct late Pleistocene
mammals of Australia;
 span the middle to late Pleistocene time period, representing the development of
modern fauna;
 have a high quality of preservation which enables both reconstruction and detailed
anatomical descriptions and functional morphology of both crania and post-cranial
skeletal elements.
 Riversleigh and Naracoorte are outstanding examples representing significant ongoing
ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of Australia's
mammal fauna, including the richest Australian, and one of the world's richest, Oligo-
Miocene mammal records, linking that period (15-25 million years) to the predominantly
modern assemblages of the Pliocene and Pleistocene (Riversleigh), and a record of faunal
change spanning two ice ages, highlighting the impacts of both climatic change and man
on Australia's mammals (Naracoorte).
The World Heritage values of
Riversleigh include:
The cave fauna deposits which includes
fossil assemblages and sequences that:
 date to the middle to late Pleistocene period,
providing an important southern hemisphere
site for the study of mega faunal extinction;
 provide a window on faunal change spanning
at least two ice ages and culminating in the appearance of humans on the Australian continent;
 include representation of unique Gondwanan groups such as extinct madtsoiid snakes and monotremes
due to the high quality of the preservation of most of the fossil material;
 include a large quantity of individuals represented and a high quality of preservation due to the deposition
of the fossils in a "pit fall trap" environment;
 provide further evidence that the Australian fauna has evolved mainly in isolation;
 are important in understanding the impacts of Milankovitch climatic cycles and humans on Australia's
mammal fauna;
 include DNA which has been found and extracted from examples of the fossil material with a view to
reconstructing detailed phylogenies for the extinct thylacoleonids (marsupial lions) and the extinct browsing
sthenurine kangaroos.
Other World Heritage Sites in
Australia
 Carlton Gardens, Melbourne
 Fraser Island, Queensland
 Gondwana Rainforest, New South Wales- Queensland
 Great Barrier Reef, Northeast Australia
 Greater Blue Mountains Area, New South Wales, Australia
 Heard Island & Mc Donald Island (HIMI)
 Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory of Australia
 Lord Howe Island, East Australia
 Macquarie Island
 Purnululu National Park, Western Australia
 Royal Exhibition building, Melbourne
 Shark Bay, Gascoyne
 Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales
 Tasmanian Wilderness, Tasmania
 Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, Northern Territory
 Wet Tropics of Queensland
 Willandra Lakes Region, New South Wales
 Thank you for your attention!
References and pictures:-

• http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/au

•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riversleigh

•http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/698